William Lloyd Welter

West Point, 1955

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by John Wing on April 1, 2009:

March, 2009, has been an extremely tough month. I never expected I would be writing a tribute of this nature for a close friend who I thought would outlast most, if not all, of us. Bill seemed to be actively engaged in everything and in great health and we were shocked to learn of his passing. Sheila and I spoke with Sherry and their daughter Melissa after we received the sad news. Sherry, upon learning from his doctor after the operation that he was "gone", thought that Bill must have left the hospital and had gone home. Having known Bill, that would have been my reaction too. We were friends for many years, from Captain MacKenzie's French Class to numerous military assignments and class gatherings. Sheila and I especially enjoyed the good times at Edwards with Bill, Sherry, classmates (of note was Jimmy Heye's green banana frozen daiquiris) and their wives. How many of you flight school "green hats" remember the time that Bill took off from a Ft. Rucker dirt strip with a corn stalk that got wedged between the elevator and horizontal stabilizer of his L-19? I don't know how he managed to control the L-19, but he did somehow and made a safe landing. That was an early indication of his aviation skills and the things that he would master later in his flying career. A funny incident that Bill related to me one time involved an Air Force and Army exchange program at Edwards AFB in the 1960's. It seems that the zoomies would sign up to fly Army helicopters and the Army guys would fly Air Force birds. Anyway, while Bill was flying a B52 with an Air Force Colonel, the aircraft lost an engine. The Colonel asked Bill what action they needed to take. Bill's reply was: "Nothing. Heck, we've got seven other good engines to get us home." I don't think that was what the Colonel was expecting to hear. That may not have been the approved solution, but that was Bill's tenth section (I was in the same section) solution. Bill was a loyal classmate but, to his credit, his family always came first. When there was a conflict between class gatherings and family activities, Bill went to watch his grandsons pitch in a college baseball game or play tennis in a high school tournament. As class ISO, Bill led the way in making our class nets the finest. He fostered classmate friendships and we gained a lasting knowledge of each other, often-times better than when we were cadets. We will always be grateful for what he accomplished on our behalf. When I would find myself in a tight fix, I often wondered what Bill would do. He'd probably say, "Don't sweat the small stuff; we've got 7 good engines to get out of this mess." Well done, Bill. Be thou at peace and take care until we meet again. John

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